Wisconsin Right Now

Republicans in the Assembly re-elected Speaker Robin Vos, while Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate re-elected Dianne Hesselbein as Minority Leader. Senate Republicans last week re-elected Sen. Devin LeMahieu as Majority Leader. Democrats in the Assembly are the only ones who have not yet voted for their leader. That vote is set for Tuesday. The leadership re-elections signal that next year likely won’t be that much different from the past two years at the Capitol in Madison. In fact, both Vos and Hasselbein said their priorities for the new session are no different than their priorities from the one that’s about to end. “We have an opportunity to make sure that the wishes of the public in Wisconsin become the reality that we work on over the next 14 to 15 months,” Vols told reporters. The new legislature will be tasked with writing a new state budget. Hesselbein said Democrats want to add to that state budget and spend more on Gov. Tony Evers’ top priorities. “We know ...

Democrats nominated only President Biden. It took less than 10 minutes to set Wisconsin’s presidential primary ballot. The state’s Presidential Preference Selection Committee met in Madison on Tuesday to select the candidates who may appear on the April 2 ballot. Republicans nominated former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Vivek Ramaswammy. Democrats nominated only President Biden. Wisconsin’s law allows the Selection Committee to recognize “the names of all candidates whose candidacy is generally advocated or recognized in the national news media throughout the United States on the ballot, and may, in addition, place the names of other candidates on the ballot." The hearing was largely perfunctory, with committee members answering the roll and making formal motions for most of the seven minutes they met. None of the De...

It looks like taxpayers in Wisconsin will continue to pay for the Brewers’ baseball stadium. The Wisconsin Senate on Thursday morning approved the plan to spend about $500 million on future renovations and maintenance at American Family Field. To make it happen, the Republican sponsor of the plan had to work a few changes. "This is a good deal for baseball fans, a good deal for taxpayers, a good deal for the state of Wisconsin,” Sen Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac, said. The new proposal will give Gov. Tony Evers and Milwaukee’s elected leaders extra spots on the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District board. The district owns the stadium, and the board makes decisions on how the stadium’s money will be spent. Feyen also agreed to gradually raise a non-Brewer game ticket tax from $2 next year to $4 by 2042. It took Democratic votes to get the ballpark package through the Senate. Eleven Republicans voted against the plan. That’s half the Republican caucus in ...